New Delhi, 30th October, 2013: Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a registered charitable trust in India committed to work towards the empowerment of girls and women organized its session of ‘Terrace Talks’ at their head-office at India International Centre, New Delhi. The session was a conversation between Fahmida Riaz, a renowned Pakistani Urdu writer, poet and feminist and Ruchira Gupta revolving around ‘feminism in Pakistan’.

Fahmida Riaz is one of the most powerful feminist voices in South Asia and has actively participated in social and political activities during her academic life. A leading Urdu writer and poet, she also serves as head of the Urdu Dictionary Board of Pakistan. Sharing her views on men and women, society, traditions and culture in Pakistan, Riaz talked about the struggle for women’s rights within Pakistan as well as her encounters with successive suppressive regimes.

The interactive session was organized to reach out to students, academicians and lovers of poetry to understand the rise of feminism movement in Pakistan and how it advocated for equal political, economic and social privileges for women.

Elucidating about the dynamics of feminism in Pakistan Fahmida Riaz shared, “It was really nice to be among young women and men ant it was a great experience. At this point the feminism in India is very closely link to Pakistan , the greatest hurdle in Pakistan is to commute safely and for this we need better laws and jurisdiction.”

Participating in the discussion, Ruchira Gupta, Founder and President Apne Aap Women Worldwide said “Terrace talk is an initiative to start a dialogue among young people , on issues relating to sex trafficking and also to know the root cause of sex trafficking , which can be inequality among rich and poor , men & women , upper cast & lower cast and through these talks we are trying to bring these issues amongst the masses , the youth .”

Fahmida who is also the director of WADA (Women and Development Association), an NGO for the development of women’s education and awareness, was supportive of Apne Aap’s mission to end human slavery and sex trafficking in India and applauded their continuing efforts.